The Power Within
by madskittles17
Summary: Alana is simply a girl. A girl with suspiciously supernatural abilities that force her into exile in City Z. Follow her as she strives to become a hero that transcends ranking, despite her somewhat anti-hero appearance, and the out-of-ordinary friendships she makes along the way. *I DO NOT OWN ONE PUNCH MAN*
1. Chapter 1

Alana sat on top of a worn-looking newspaper stand, whose day had long since past, watching the clouds roll by above her head while on her break from her job as a cashier at the local supermarket. She was a relatively new resident of City Z – which was a strange statement seeing as to how most of them had fled due to the abnormal amount of monster attacks and destruction in the recent year.

It's nice here though, she thought. The cost of living was low and the city was quiet. It seemed as though the monsters no longer felt the need to attack a mostly empty city. Whatever the reason was for the peace, Alana didn't care to know.

This change of scenery was exactly what she had hoped for when she was kicked out – _no_ , when she left her parents' home in City S, the financial capital of the region. Alana was 18, soon to be 19, and as soon as she had stepped foot out of the town that bred straightjacket accountants like her parents, it felt like a weight had been lifted.

It had only been a few weeks since she had left and she remembered their arguments vividly. They had demanded that she attend university so that she could live out a comfortable, mediocre life. The idea itself to her felt like drinking a cup of lukewarm coffee first thing on a cold morning. The recruitment ads by the Hero Association meanwhile blared on in the background.

The posters and commercials had always been like background noise to her but in the time between the culmination of the arguments with her family and her eventual departure, they grew to be her biggest annoyance. Alana herself had demonstrated beyond-human powers but had no interest in letting the Association get ahold of. She believed that organization to be nothing more than a front for justice while hiding the corruption behind their poster children.

Her dream was to refine her abilities in such a way that she could transcend the public view of ranks and the like and become a true hero for justice, not the diluted kind that the Hero Association was selling. Unfortunately, she and her parents didn't exactly see eye-to-eye and it became their way or the highway. It's obvious which one she chose.

She scoffed out loud. Some parents.

Just then, the butcher came out, already withdrawing his pack of cigarettes from his apron pocket, glancing at her before saying with a gruff voice, "breaks over, new girl, the boss wants you back inside," and turning away.

She nodded in response before hopping down from her perch. "Thanks, butch!" she said cheerfully as she swung her reddish-brown hair back up into a messy bun and walked inside.

Alana tapped the stockroom boy covering her break on the shoulder to know that he was relieved and he smiled gratefully before walking away, leaving the job to her.

The remaining half of her eight hour shift went numbly by as she greeted the occasional customer who walked in to buy a pack of smokes or a cold drink. Alana was bored to say the least but the pay was good enough for her to get by so she rarely contemplated switching jobs as she stared blankly out the front window.

The sound of approaching footsteps and the crinkling plastic packaging being placed in front of her alerted her to a new customer. She turned her gaze from the enormous pile of ramen sitting in her face to the one who had placed it there – a cyborg.

Her eyes widened in shock; she'd never seen one in real life before.

"Cyborg!" she exclaimed with her mouth gaping open. "That's a pretty cool cosplay!"

There was a loud crashing sound as her boss who was walking by fell over from shock. He got up and waddled over as fast as he could with her cane before shoving the end in her face.

"Wrong!" the old man yelled through his bushy white eyebrows and moustache. "Apologize right now! This man is a registered S-class hero and has saved our city from disaster many times!" Alana glanced over to the 'hero' in question who appeared to be perplexed by the whole situation.

"Sheesh, alright alright," Alana huffed, as she pushed away the walking stick. Her boss stared her down for a solid minute before straightening up, bowing deeply to the robot, and walking away – all the while muttering under his breath about a certain someone's disrespect and insolence.

Once he was out of earshot, which didn't take long considering how poor his hearing was, Alana muttered, "old man," under her breath before turning towards the customer.

"So you're a hero, huh?" she practically spat out. She obviously had no intention of apologizing. The cyborg appeared to analyse her for a second with his yellow eyes before nodding.

"Yes, S-class hero rank 14, Genos, at your service," he responded evenly, either not noticing or ignoring her hostile tone.

"Then what's all this ramen for?" she said, alternating her gaze between the messy pile of ramen packages and his exposed mechanical parts that were apparently not just for show, but were actually his arms. "Is the Association not paying you enough?"

"No. The other day, my senior said that he enjoyed eating ramen so I thought I would investigate to see if that is the source of his strength, however, he didn't tell me which type or brand he preferred. The nutrition details are also not enough data to go off of but I cannot run tests on samples without first buying, cooking, and eating them first."

"Oi, I didn't ask for your damn life story. Sheesh," Alana said in a gruff way that reminded her of the butcher.

"My apologies," the annoyingly-even voice replied.

Alana made a 'tch' noise of disdain but quickly plastered on a cheerful smile when she could feel the boss' eyes boring into her as he once again walked by. The mahogany-haired worker opted for staring at the clock than the customer while she bagged his groceries.

When he paid and left, Alana released a breath that she felt like she had been holding the whole interaction. The air around heroes sure was stuffy.

On the bright side, he was gone and there were only 30 more minutes left in her shift.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun was setting as Alana helped the old man close up the shop, in return for free pickings of whatever hadn't sold that day and was going to be thrown out. Walking home in the pinkish light, she munched thoughtfully on a rice ball while considering her upcoming nightly training regiment. Her pace slowed until she came to a stop at an intersection. Alana swallowed as she stared up at the increasingly clear moon in the rapidly darkening sky.

 _Could she do it? Would she be able to control her powers?_ She released a shaky breath and then straightened her shoulders before continuing on her way home with determined steps. _She'd have to try._

Alana found it necessary to strengthen both her body and mind. She had seen the news and had heard of heroes, such as the Tank Top Gang that was built entirely on brawn, but clearly lacked brain – _how frivolous_ , she thought. Having finished her usual strength training, Alana allowed herself a 10 minute break before she set off at a brisk pace towards a destination she had discovered earlier in the week.

Working full time, she rarely found time for her extensive meditation sessions, so Alana dedicated herself to exercising seven days a week and meditating at least once. Luckily, she had the day off from work tomorrow so she could stay out late without worries of oversleeping the following workday. She had had little success with her previous meditations but Alana had a good feeling about today; at the very least, perhaps a change of scenery would spark some form of inspiration within her.

It took her less than an hour to reach her destination: a large canyon located on the rural outskirts of the city. There was something special about this place, she could tell. Simply by looking at the uneven cliff face that walled off the trench, it didn't take a rocket scientist to know that the destruction that had once occurred here was far from natural.

Alana stared at an indent carefully for a moment, trying to imagine the force of an impact had to have had in order to create a hole that large in the jagged rock. Shrugging it off, the brunette decided to begin the process of what she had come here for in the first place.

She kicked off her shoes and socks and stood so close to the edge of the cliff that her toes dangled off the end of the cool rock. Her stomach was knotted tightly but something deep down inside of her craved the adrenaline rush. Placing her elbows by her sides and her hands outwards face-up, Alana closed her eyes and breathed deeply, allowing the cool night air to tickle her palms.

After taking several deep breaths, the silence around her began to ring loudly in her ears. It was nearly deafening until she took another breath and suddenly, it was like she submerged herself into a clear body of water and she was floating in a ripple-free space. Oxygen wasn't a worry for her; the substance surrounding her leaked an essence that was familiar in a sense. She swam through its murky depths for she didn't know how long but her body didn't tire, however, she did begin to feel a nagging at the back of her brain, which she promptly brushed aside.

Her awareness of the surface had evaporated, but before she knew it, the seemingly never-ending pool became shallower, and Alana found herself able to stand. Her clothes were dry, she noted, as she emerged from the clear liquid. She turned around to see where she had come from, but saw nothing but darkness. Looking down at her feet, emptiness swirled around her ankles. Any evidence of what she had just experienced was gone, although the nagging in her mind remained.

Turning around once more to the direction she was originally facing, Alana spotted a shining orb of white light that was…calling to her. She took slow, even steps towards it and with each foot placed in front of the other, the pounding in her head grew. When she reached the beckoning light, it pulsated as though it was breathing.

Strangely without hesitation, she reached out and grasped the ephemeral being gently in her hands. Warmth ebbed from it with each pulse and the feeling quickly spread from Alana's fingertips through the rest of her body. The moment she touched it, the ominous feeling in her head evaporated and all was calm once again.

 _Drop_ , a voice came from somewhere. It was smooth and hypnotizing. _Fear not, you will build your wings on the way down._

"Yes, I will build my wings," Alana felt herself mouth the words but couldn't hear them come out of her mouth.

 _Jump now_ , the voice came again. How could she refuse such a beautiful sound?

"Yes, I will jump."


	3. Chapter 3

Alana stepped one foot into the deep chasm and the rest of her body soon followed. The world that had been beneath her feet was now at the forefront of her vision as she fell freely into the canyon.

She was not concerned for her safety, however, because the kind, warm, trustworthy voice had told her that she would build her wings on the way down. The same warmth that she had felt remained ebbing in her fingertips, along her spine, in her toes, and on her forehead and it pulsed almost excitedly. This warmth protected her from fear and reassured her that she would have her wings because she conquered the darkness – her darkness. _Inhale_.

The rocks passed her by as she plummeted downward endlessly. Her line of vision became shorter and shorter as the light of the moon became obscured by the increasing height of the cliff walls. The wind whipped through her auburn hair, lashed her face, and dried her unblinking eyes. _Exhale_.

"Watch out!"

 _Eh? What is this voice? It's too rough and too deep…_

A sudden impact forced the air from Alana's lungs and her eyes snapped open. Shocked, she tried to look around but found her movement restrained as she came face to face with a mechanical shoulder.

 _Had her eyes been closed this whole time? No, that wasn't possible. She distinctly remembered the world turning on a 90-degree axis and the rock formations passing before her eyes._

As she tried to comprehend the situation, her apparent saviour landed them both safely on cool dirt.

"What were you doing?" the same unwelcome voice from before came from above her.

The robotic-like hold on her was released and Alana caught a glimpse of the scumbag hero cyborg's face from earlier but none of that mattered right now. What mattered was that…

"I almost had it!" she cried out. The combination of her frustration, disappointment, and confusion was bubbling dangerously under the surface. The warmth had disappeared from her body. _What had gone wrong?_

"What do you mean?" the cyborg's golden eyes peered down at her curiously as he crouched over her body because of the way they had landed.

The angst overwhelmed Alana and she was unable to form a coherent thought as she wailed into her hands. The cyborg was clearly perplexed.

"I had my chance _and you stole it from me_ ," the emotional girl cried through her hands covering her face, although halfway through her sentence, her voice changed to a more guttural tone. Genos was wary.

The warmth returned as a small flame and suddenly ignited into an eruption. _What was happening to her?_

"You stole it!" a voice that wasn't hers emerged angrily from her mouth and as her hands were lowered from her face, revealing red pupils that showed no sign of just crying, the monster controlling her body revealed newly grown fangs before it lunged.

Genos saw the muscle tick in the girl's neck before the attack came and was able to jump out of the way before massive incisors clamped down on thin air. He landed a safe distance away and took the chance to analyse his opponent, who was apparently still gaining her bearings.

A whimpering noise reached his ears and he stared cautiously at the hunched over female while assuming a combat position. She clutched her sides tightly and turned her head slowly to look over at him; fearful brown eyes peeked through the reddish-coloured hair and it seemed to be a struggle to utter one word before red irises dominated the pale skin once more: "help".

Alana could feel her body straightening up but her thoughts felt fuzzy and her brain devoid of function.

 _Fear not, I will lend you strength_ , a soft voice purred from somewhere within the deep recesses of her mind. She could feel her energy rapidly draining as the humanoid standing several meters away from her came in and out of focus.

 _Surrender._

"Yes," she whispered in reply.

 _I will keep you safe_. The words trailed off at the end with a menacing hiss that Alana didn't seem to notice. She felt so tired…

Surrendering her mind to the warm voice, Alana's bones began cracking maliciously.

Genos wondered if the girl from the supermarket realized the changes that were occurring before his eyes. Red eyes met his yellow across the distance that separated them, almost like a challenge.

He attempted to scan her body to try to figure out some possible reason why this transformation was occurring but the data came up inconclusive. Switching off the visual analysis setting, Genos kept his guard up while staring at the female across from him.

The skin on her fingers and hands had turned charred black, as though they had been dipped in ash, and it trailed up her arms, fading just above her elbows. A similar phenomenon appeared to be happening to the lower portion of her legs. Her forearms and legs stretched to impossible lengths and Genos swore he could hear the bones themselves elongating underneath her…skin. Curved claws sprouted from her fingertips that extended several inches from her body. Finally, just as he thought it was over, there came a ripping sound and feathered black wings spanning at least 10 feet in either direction protruded from her back.

They stuck out at awkward angles, as if stiff from underuse. Realizing this, the being they were attached to gave a few tentative flaps before sighing with, what sounded like, relief. The human girl that Genos had encountered for the first time today at the supermarket was gone and it was imminently clear that what stood before him now was a…

"Monster," he stated definitively.

The demonoid in question turned to him at the sound of his voice and responded with a terrifying smile that revealed gleaming, newly grown fangs.

"You know," its purring voice said, as a forked tongue slipped out and leisurely licked its lips. The black wings that matched the night sky unfurled and beat the air, lifting up the monster several feet, while Genos tracked her movements carefully.

"I never liked you heroes," the voice finished its sentence before shooting towards Genos with outstanding speed and outstretched claws. The words echoed in his ears for a moment, rendering him unable to respond, but he managed to jump out of the way at the last minute, preventing her from landing a fatal blow.

She had nicked the left side of his face but not enough damage was taken to the point where it would hinder his function. Genos did not bleed, nor did he feel pain. He either worked or he didn't. And with his current opponent who was grinning maliciously down at him from the sky, it was clear that he needed his body to work more than ever.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hi everyone! Sorry for being MIA this past week, classes and life have been keeping me pretty busy. Also, I apologize for the short chapters thus far, I usually try to make each chapter at least 1500 words but I honestly just started writing this story on a whim so I kind of just wrote whatever came to mind and put it on here. Hopefully the chapters should start being a bit longer from here on out though!

Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed, and/or reviewed so far! You really have no idea how much I appreciate the fact that some of you enjoy reading what I write. :) If you have any questions or comments, I'm always open to them so just leave them in the reviews and I'll do my best to get back to you.

Anyways, enough about that. My first ever fight scene! I've never written one before so sorry if the terminology or writing style is weird. Lemme know what you think and enjoy!

* * *

"Who are you?" Genos called out to the shadowy figure. "What is your purpose?"

The monster avidly yawned while lounging on thin air, her wings keeping her aloft. "My, my, questions bore me." Her voice echoed off the cliff walls but it didn't change the fact that the girl's voice, who had been standing in front of him moments ago, had become deeper and huskier.

"What are you planning?" the cyborg reiterated from the ground.

Ignoring him, the demon examined herself. "This host is a stubborn one…how annoying."

"This is the last time I will ask," Genos said, raising his palm and aiming it at his opponent, as the impending attack charged. "Who are you?"

He finally managed to catch the fiend's attention, but elicited a less-than-optimal response.

Exasperated, she spoke, though more to herself than to him. "I'll have to do with what I've got for now. I can still take on a single hero." She rose up in the air even further before closing her wings and lunging in at a high speed to end this annoyance quickly.

Any naked human eye wouldn't have been able to track the dark angels' movements, but Genos, being a cyborg, tracked her agility and matched it with his own. It only took a second to calculate his own angle and velocity before using the thrusters on his feet to meet his enemy in the air.

They narrowly dodged each other from colliding head on, but circled around a millisecond after passing so that they were face-to-face in mid-air. Genos was quick to raise his standard weapon of the blaster on his palm but the supernatural was quicker.

"Eye of the Demon!"

"Inciner –"

The wings, which had gone largely unnoticed on her back, were quickly swept forward to clout Genos roughly on both sides of his titanium skull before he could launch his attack.

He was dazed for only a second, but his opponent took that moment to withdraw her wings and beat them once strongly enough to send her skyrocketing high into the air.

Gritting his teeth, he took the opportunity to calculate the damage she had done. The force that had been applied to the attack to his head, he realized, had not been meant to kill – no, his adversary was smart enough to realize it would take more than just that to terminate his functioning – but it had severely damaged his signal receptors, hindering his ability to predict her movements.

Gravity took its effect, however, and Genos dropped to the ground, landing on his feet, with enough force to displace the sand and dirt within a 3-foot radius around him.

He was clearly at the disadvantage here, since he didn't have the aerial mobility that his foe possessed. And the spell she had done earlier, what had it done?

As if reading his mind, the demon called down to him in a condescending tone: "little mechanical boy, I know all your weaknesses!"

If Genos felt shock, he didn't show it. Rule number one of any battle was to not show any sign of emotion. Inside, however, he knew he had to end this battle quickly since he didn't know what this devil-incarnate was capable of.

Plan A: attack from a safe distance.

"Incinerate." Bursts of fire in rapid succession launched from his open palm aimed at his opponent. She dodged them nimbly, all the while laughing manically.

"Now –- " she drew out the word playfully as Genos exhaled grey exhaust from his mouth. "It's my turn." Floating in the air, she held out her left arm with a closed fist and Genos eyed it carefully while settling into a defensive posture.

"Succumb to your own darkness, mortal!" Her fist opened, momentarily revealing the charred black skin of her demon palm before it twisted grotesquely to expose an eyeball that oriented itself vertically before flashing.

At first, nothing happened. A split second later, Genos felt the sensation of falling but when he looked around, all he saw with pitch black darkness. He tried to activate his foot thrusters but to no avail; they didn't even sputter.

The next thing he knew, he was on solid ground. Looking around at his surroundings, however, he saw a burning village. His eyes widened as he recognized it as his home.

His field of vision changed as his body began moving beyond his control. He couldn't even voluntarily move his head. It was like he was trapped in someone else's point of view.

He followed this body through the familiar ravaged streets of his hometown before stopping and turning to look at the house that he now found himself standing next to. _It was his home_.

Walking up the broken front porch steps and stepping through the unhinged front doorway, Genos could see the messy remains of his childhood home. Their couch was overturned, picture frames were shattered on the ground, and the piano was charred. Genos gained a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

 _No._

He walked towards the curtain that hung unsteadily from one peg in the back of the room and could discern movement behind it. An unrecognizable hand, although he was in first-person, reached out for the fabric and pulled it away, revealing his mother and sister shaking in fear.

 _NO._

He watched from the perspective of the killer he had been hunting for four years as his mother begged him to spare her daughters' life and watched as she was struck down with a hand so strong that she died immediately from the brain trauma. His sister, Anne, met a similar fate within seconds.

Genos knew this scene all too well and it was a place he never wanted to go back to. He knew that in the other room, 15 year old him sat cowering behind a table, stifling his sobs as the murderer he was powerless against ran rampant.

"No!" he screamed, although he couldn't hear it as he still followed the stranger around his house. In his helplessness, Genos did the only thing he could think of.

"Incinerate! Incinerate! Incinerate!" Having lost his own self-awareness within this nightmare, he couldn't even tell where he was aiming but luckily, a blast directed towards his own feet in the corporal world sent him flying and forcefully withdrew him from the lucid dream.

The sound of cackling laughter traveling through the otherwise silent night met his ears and Genos quickly straightened up as blinding rage began consuming his senses. He launched himself into the air, aiming directly for his opponent.

Realizing his intention, the demon dove and they struck each other before whooshing past, creating air currents behind themselves, in a joust. Genos landed solidly on his feet before assessing the damage he had both taken and done.

She had sliced upon his shoulder joint, although not deeply enough for his arm to detach, leaving sparking wires in the newly formed gap.

Turning around, he saw no sign of the blow that he was sure had landed cleanly on her body as she floated in the sky once more. Genos had purposely aimed for the blackened, demon parts of her body so to speak because of the risk of hurting the civilian who he knew was trapped by this parasite.

Watching her lick her lips as she gazed down at him made Genos realize something: _this was a game to her_. She was slowly wearing him down like a hunter would his prey in the wild. The sooner he finished this, the better.

"Come here, mechanical boy," she called out with a teasing voice and an extended index finger, beckoning him forward. "I don't have all the time in the world, you know."

Clasping his hands together before him, Genos changed his closed fists into weapon mode. Extensions from his forearms and hands came together in synchronicity to form a monstrosity of a gun.

"Incinerate." A large beam of magical power consuming a large sum of his mechanical energy erupted from the various orifices in his armament, aiming directly for the sky born demon.

Behind the opposing end of the attack, as Genos focused on maintaining his footing from the powerful recoil of the blast, he missed the smirk on the female's face.

Raising her hand in front of her, she murmured, "Eclipse," and a short stream of black light emerged from the pupil of the eyeball contained within her palm, shooting directly into the middle of the oncoming assault.

The counterattack caused Genos' most powerful version of Incinerate to dissipate, forming a ring of orange light around the black beam before resulting in massive explosion. A plan observer would think that they were putting on a fireworks show, rather than fighting, by the way orange and black particles rained down from the sky as the two superhuman kept their eyes locked with one another.

They quickly returned to sparring, flying at each other with blinding speed, landing a single attack before turning around and repeating the process. Genos was panting, his functionality was weaning as his opponent continued to expertly clip his wires like he was a puppet and she, an evil puppeteer. He noticed, however, that her stamina seemed to be wearing thin as well as the damage from his attacks was beginning to show with her left leg hanging rather limply and her favouring her right arm over her left.

With his remaining power, he probably only had enough energy left for one major attack so he'd have to give it his all.

Meanwhile, the demon stole a glance toward the horizon, noting the low orientation of the moon before returning her eyes to the cyborg. He was proving to be a more formidable opponent than she had originally anticipated and she only had a limited amount of time left. _One final blow – that's all it'll take to finish this._ She gritted her teeth, ignoring the piercing sensation of her fangs into her bottom lip.

Genos expanded his parts to their full width, releasing the pressure with a hissing noise, and allowing the power from his glowing orange underbody to shine through. As he prepared for what would be his final attack, the orange energy seeped out between the cracks and heated up until it glowed white-hot, surrounding his body with a luminescent glow.

Something similar was occurring to his opponent as well, who appeared to be releasing tendrils of black smoke that trailed around her fingertips and outlined her figure. The image of the demon combined with the rapidly approaching light was a menacing sight indeed. Genos could only speak for himself, but he swore that he saw smoky black horns protruding from her forehead before he blinked and the wind swept them away.

The two simultaneously released their final breath before crouching down to launch themselves at their opponent. Both were too occupied to see the rubble that they had left behind in the places they had just stood.

 _The light of the moon was fading._

Within seconds, they had met in the air, narrowly dodged each others' attacks, sped past, then rapidly turned around to launch a counterattack, ignoring the trail of black and white heat that they had left behind them, marking their path through the air.

 _A golden, pinkish light began cutting through the darkness of the sky just beyond the horizon._

Both of their eyes were narrowed in concentration, focusing only on the target in close proximity to them. For a moment, their energy intermingled and as they twisted to meet face to face, reaching out to land a blow that would hopefully end the battle, they formed a roughly shaped yin and yang symbol. This was no longer a game of cat and mouse, this had become full-on offense from both sides.

"Checkmate," the two voices said in unison.

 _The surface of the golden orb a million light-years away began showing itself and the reveal of the rest of its body in entirety was imminent._

Genos' blasting palm was separated an inch from the demon's forehead, where it sizzled threateningly. The demon in question's claws, however, he realized as he looked down, had ripped through his exoskeleton like it was nothing but wet tissue and grasped the shining blue core that was his mechanical heart and power source tightly.

They remained locked in the deadly web, where they were both the spider and the prey, until the demon broke the silence. She huffed, and red eyes met yellow, before smirking imperceptibly at him.

"Until next time, mechanical boy."

"Eh?" Genos asked confusedly. Suddenly, the memory of the agonized brunette girl from the supermarket begging for help replayed in front of his eyes before the pressure in his interior disappeared completely.

Refocusing his vision, the demon was no longer to be found and in her place was her unconscious corporal host. She floated in the air motionless for a second before gravity took its effect and she began plummeting towards the ground. Emotionless, Genos watched her fall before coming to his senses. _She is a civilian and you are an S-class hero, save her!_

Despite his damaged body, Genos still had a hero's duty to attend to so he quickly propelled himself to the ground, calculating the citizen's directional velocity. With perfect aim, he caught her limp body before carefully cradling her head and landing feet first on the flat terrain.

The force of his landing caused the ground to noticeably shake and some loose debris to fall off the cliff face, but all that mattered was that the girl in his arms was breathing, albeit shallowly, and that he needed answers.

As Genos walked west back to Saitama's apartment, where he would keep the girl until she woke up, he ignored the early morning sun that cast a warm light on his back.


	5. Chapter 5

Her head was pounding and everything around her was dark. Alana couldn't tell if her eyes were closed or what, everything was simply…dark.

She realized she could turn her head and move but it served no purpose as she was enveloped in complete darkness. Sitting up quickly, she grabbed her head tightly at the sudden painful rush of vertigo hit her brain. After recovering, she looked around once more before curling up into a ball. She was…afraid.

"What happened?" she said to the open air and to herself. She remembered meditating at the cliff, then falling, then being saved and everything went fuzzy after that like a scratched record.

 _Don't worry, I'll keep you safe,_ the soothing voice from her meditation was back but this time the pound in her head remained.

"You!" she called out in recognition. She wasn't sure why she was speaking out loud since the voice was in her head and the sound was quickly drawn into the void, but it brought her some sense of comfort. "Who are you? Why can I hear you?"

 _My name is Crescent and nothing else is important right now except for one thing. Alana, I will grant you my power, but you must never use it in the daytime._

"Why? What happened? What power?!" Her desperation for answers was steadily increasing the pitch of her voice and her heart was pounding.

 _Promise me you'll never use my – no, our power in the sun, Alana. In return, I'll keep you safe._ The soothing tone was back and it restored some ounce of comfort in her body.

Alana paused for a second before agreeing. "Okay. But how come?"

There was also a pause on the end of the person she was communicating with – Crescent she was called. Whether she was human Alana didn't know, but her voice was so relaxing. Just before Alana was about to speak up again, the voice responded.

 _Because the light will kill us both,_ she stated rather calmly. Alana gasped and was about to interject when Crescent finished its sentence.

 _Because we are one._

* * *

Alana's eyes snapped open and she found herself lying on a futon near a very familiar looking patio door. _When did she get home? Why was she on the floor?_

Looking down, she saw that she was covered in a thin sheet of a blanket and lifting up the blanket, saw that her clothes were shredded to tatters. Panic set in. _When did this happen?_

"Oh, you're up," an unfamiliar voice said from across the room. Looking up, Alana saw a strange looking man staring across the kitchen counter from her and fought the urge to scream, knowing that no one would come save her if she did.

Wrapping the blanket tightly around herself to maintain some semblance of modesty, she jumped to the defensive. "Who are you? Why are you in my apartment? Why are my clothes in tatters? How did I get here?" In her sudden interrogation, she had jumped up and backed away to lean against the backdoor, distancing herself as far away from this person as possible.

The stranger appeared to process her questions for a moment and opened his mouth to respond, but in the midst of her freak-out, she blurted out the next question that came to mind.

"And why are you SO bald?" Realizing what she had just said, Alana gasped, clasping her hands over her mouth as the man's face before her transformed into one comparable to that of a pouting turtle.

"This is my apartment though," he mumbled under his breath, but Alana still caught the words thanks to the small-enclosed space they stood in.

At this, Alana looked around and took closer note of her surroundings. It didn't take long for her to realize that despite the similar infrastructural design of this apartment, this was, in fact, not her home, not her futon, and not her blanket.

"I'm so sorry for my mistake!" she nearly yelled. "It's just that I'm very confused right now."

The man who appeared to still be sulking in the kitchen, ( _although there was no way it could be from her earlier comments, could it?)_ turned towards her and sighed, walking out of the kitchen towards her.

She instinctively tried to take a step back, clutching the blanket tighter around her, but remembered that she was backed against the door still. The man ended up leaning against the opposite end of the counter, however, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Anyway, my name's Saitama and I'm a B-class hero, rank 7," the baldy proclaimed proudly.

Alana was automatically turned off the word 'hero' and dryly responded, "never heard of you."

This seemed to depress the man's mood once again as he visibly slouched and murmured, "oh… I see," rather dejectedly.

The lost female in the room raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to come out of his slump, but when he failed to do so this time, she prodded him with her questions once more.

"Why am I here? Have you happened to see a cyborg?"

At the sound of her voice, the shiny head was raised to the ceiling once more and an equally plain face met hers again.

"Oh, right. The cyborg is Genos, he's my roommate and…companion…I guess," Saitama said, not wanting to say that he was anyone's 'master'.

On the opposite end of the room, however, Alana's first thought was _yaoi… Never would've guessed that for a someone like a cyborg, but whatever makes people happy._

Saitama quickly caught onto Alana's facial expression, however, and rapidly shook his hands in front of him, trying to dispel any nasty thoughts she thought he had about Genos.

"No, no, it's not like THAT, I'm not into dudes. I just teach Genos some stuff sometimes and he lives here with me – well, more like he invited himself here but well, it's a long story…" he trailed off. Seeing the girl's dry expression, he decided to move this situation along. "Genos brought you here early this morning and he said something but I don't remember because I was so tired…" Saitama trailed off again, trying to recall this morning's events. "Oh! He was real banged up though, so I assume he's off at the mechanic getting fixed right now, though he should be back soon." Then, Saitama turned, as though a thought had just struck him, and gave Alana a strange look.

Alana was staring at the ground, trying to comprehend this information and piece it together but this B-class hero wasn't making it easy. When she noted his stare, she suddenly felt self-conscious. "What?"

"Are you Genos' girlfriend? Did you two get into a fight or something?" he asked bluntly.

"What?!" Alana responded, shocked by this sudden line of questioning. "No, Genos and I only met yesterday!"

"Ah… I see," Saitama paused before asking another question. "Are you in his fan club then?"

"Fan club?" Now he had completely lost her, but it was safe to presume that the answer was no. "No."

"I see," he repeated. "Genos was really messed up this morning, like his face was falling off and he was full of holes and such, so I was wondering if it was you that did it but…" looking her up and down, it was clear that Saitama was sceptical that someone like her could inflict so much damage to someone like Genos.

Alana didn't care what he thought of her. She didn't even know what she thought of her. There were too many unknowns in this equation right now. She just wanted to go home.

"I'd like to leave please," she stated firmly.

"Okay," Saitama responded blankly.

 _I'm not sure why but that was pretty unexpected that he'd just let me walk out_ , Alana thought, before once again taking note of her appearance.

"Uh," she started, and Saitama turned to her once again, having already forgotten about her existence.

"Oh," picking up on her thoughts, he pointed to a small pile next to the futon. "Genos left those for you. The bathroom's down the hall," he said, directing her to the hallway. Alana scooped up the pile without question and scurried to the bathroom, locking it behind her with a sigh. She didn't hear Saitama say to himself, "he said something else too but what was it?"

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Alana discovered that the scumbag hero cyborg had left her a large white sleeveless shirt, shorts, and a red apple and water bottle sealed within a plastic bag. She had to admit, the thought he had given was touching. Shaking her head to rid her mind of the thought, she quickly discarded her tattered workout clothes, placing them in the plastic bag with the food, and donned the shirt which fell to her knees and the shorts underneath as a safety precaution, since she wasn't sure how far she'd have to walk to get home.

Adjusting the ties on the shorts, which she'd had to loop around twice to get them to stay on her hips, Alana spared herself a glance in the mirror, afraid of what she'd see. Her auburn hair was mussed and clearly dirty but what caught her eye were the minor scrapes and bruises she had collected throughout her mysterious activities last night. There was a scrape on her forehead and a bruise on her cheekbone, and she touched them gingerly but they were smooth and painless as if they'd already been treated.

The injury on her jawbone she had saved examining for last. A shallow cut marred her skin, but that was the least of her concerns. It was the crookedly placed band-aids that covered most of it that almost made her feel like… _no, she couldn't think that way._

Shaking her head vigorously and stepping away from the mirror, Alana grabbed the plastic bag and threw the bathroom door open with a force greater than she had intended.

Walking out into the main room where Saitama was lounging on the floor, watching television, she announced, "I'm leaving!"

He turned in response, giving her a brisk wave, before returning to the broadcast.

"I'll return the clothes…soon," she said, a little quieter. This time, her only response was merely a grunt of affirmation.

"Well then, goodbye," she said finally before turning and quietly walking out the door. Once outside, she took a deep breath of the afternoon air and with newfound determination, decided to begin her trek home. Looking around, she realized that she knew where she was unfortunately a little too well.

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

Back inside, Saitama had an epiphany.

"Oh! I just remembered what Genos told me this morning! 'Keep an eye on her and don't let her leave,'" he said proudly, while doing his best Genos impression. Looking towards the closed front door, Saitama's mind went blank. "Eh."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: To everyone who has followed/favorited/reviewed, you make me smile! :) Sorry it's taken so long for me to update, I got sick this week... Sigh. Here's a filler chapter! And yes, I do have the rest of the story planned out, it's just a matter of sitting down and writing it. Double sigh. Hope you enjoy, thanks again! :)**

* * *

"My, my, I may have to begin charging you for my repair services with how often you've been showing up at my door recently," the old professor said while beckoning Genos inside.

"Excuse me, Doctor Kuseno," Genos responded respectfully before entering and following the scientist downstairs to his basement.

With a sigh, Kuseno motioned for him to lie on the metallic operating table before asking, "so what happened this time? Was it something to do with that Saitama fellow again?"

"No," the cyborg responded before wincing instinctively at the familiar tug as the doctor began removing his parts to conduct repairs at a separate workstation. "It was a girl."

"Oh, a feisty one, eh?" Kuseno said jokingly, his voice muffled from behind the welding mask.

"No, she is a demon."

The comment failed to surprise Kuseno who had now heard countless tales of Genos' adventures with Saitama, the B-class hero who managed to get the boy into so much mischief.

"Aren't they all?" he instead responded dryly.

Genos snorted in reply and the two men went silent, the only sound in the room coming from the welder in the doctor's hand as he pieced together the remains and replacement parts of Genos' left arm.

Instead, Genos took to examining his right hand as he recalled the events from this morning. He had felt incredibly guilty about the damage the civilian had taken by his own hand, despite the fact that his actions were in self-defence against the monster that somehow controlled her.

* * *

There were bruises and cuts seemingly everywhere on her body, although Genos did his best to not let his eyes linger beyond her face, despite her unintentionally revealing clothing. Luckily, his master was prepared as always and had a first aid kit stored away in kitchen. "Not that you will ever need it," Saitama had said jokingly while giving Genos a tour of the small apartment after he moved in.

Her skin felt surprisingly warm when he built up the courage to touch it with his bare metal fingers, afraid that the cool sensation would wake her from her slumber. And it felt…soft, he supposed was the word he was looking for. Although his sense of touch remained, the things he touched felt inexplicably different from when he was human.

Genos resisted the urge to run his hand across her smooth skin once more as he stared down at the girl's sleeping form. _It felt almost as if he had completely forgotten what it felt like to be human_ , he thought, as he raised his fingers to his own face to mimic the actions he had done moments earlier. _Was that how his skin had felt before he had undergone this transformation?_ Probably not, but he couldn't remember.

He snapped himself out of his pitiful reverie with the rational idea that he was only thinking this way since it had been so long since he had made physical contact with another person. As he carefully swiped a cotton pad soaked in alcohol across her most visible open wounds, he reminisced back to the day of his transformation from man into machine.

Four years ago, the doctor that currently stood several feet away had insisted that Genos wear the porcelain mask over his robotic face so he could at least attempt to live normally throughout his teenage years. For this same reason – maintaining some semblance of humanity – Kuseno had modified his body so that he could replicate the perception of a normal person's five senses: taste, touch, sight, hearing, and smell, with some added benefits, of course.

Genos had agreed without hesitation to these terms, as he did owe this man his life after all, but the one-sided interaction he had earlier had forced a thought into his head that he couldn't quite shake. A normal 19-year-old teenage human wouldn't be visiting a basement that looked like a combination of a mechanics shop and a mad scientists laboratory every week, nor would he need to get his own porcelain face replica repaired.

It almost felt like resentment towards the professor that he wanted Genos to maintain some aspects of humanity, while at the same time keeping it from him altogether.

 _No, what was he thinking? He owed Doctor Kuseno his life; he asked for this. He had a purpose, a mission, and he would see it through for both of them._

"Doctor, I am going to go dormant. Please awaken me when you have finished repairs," Genos stated and was waved off by the closest thing he had to a caretaker.

"Sweet dreams," was the response.

As Genos felt his body slowly shutting down, his last thought was, _hopefully master is handling the situation okay._

* * *

Alana spent the next week at work brooding over the mystery of what happened in the ravine that night, but more importantly, when she would build up the courage to ask the cyborg that lived next door how he was involved. Little did she realize that the cyborg in question peered through the window of the supermarket several hours a day, keeping a close watch on his target.

Her shift was dull and boring as always, but as she walked home in the fading pink light of the sunset, Alana decided she would confront this matter today. Even if not for answers that she had to admit, she was afraid of hearing, but at least to return the stranger's clothes, which had been washed, folded, and sitting on her kitchen counter for days. _Yes_ , she told herself, _she could manage acting out at least one common courtesy._

* * *

"Ah, Genos, you're back," Saitama greeted his disciple as he walked through the front door.

"Yes, Sensei, I have returned," Genos responded, bowing deeply.

"Oi, cut out the formalities, would ya?" Saitama complained, as he always did. "How's your investigation going?"

"Good. I supervised her work hours again today but she showed no signs of abnormality or awareness of her transformation. I will continue to keep an eye out though."

"Mmmm," Saitama hummed thoughtfully. "Why don't you just talk to her?"

"Good point," Genos said, while appearing to take the idea into consideration for the first time. "I will keep that in reserve as a backup plan."

"Ah..." Saitama trailed off while frowning up at the cyborg. He had clearly somehow not gotten his point across. "Maybe next time," he said, turning back to the tv.

"Have you eaten dinner yet, Sensei?" Genos asked politely.

At the shake of his teachers' head, the cyborg calmly stated that he would begin preparations immediately in his usual monotone voice.

The two men resumed their usual daily routine as Saitama divided his attention between the television and the handheld video game console in his hands and Genos orderly chopped up vegetables for a hotpot.

"Someone is approaching," the cyborg announced, looking up from his domestic activities.

"Eh?" Saitama asked, confused, not having caught what he had said, but a split second later, a soft knock echoed on the front door.

The heroes looked between each other momentarily before Genos followed up with, "it doesn't appear to be a threat. I'll answer it."

Saitama shrugged and murmured, "as long as they don't break my ceiling again…" under his breath, as his disciple trodded down hallway wearing his slippers and an apron.

The door was unlocked and pulled open, revealing the strange, auburn-haired girl dressed simply in jeans and a t-shirt, different from her work uniform, Genos noticed.

She took note of the cyborg's own domestic appearance, which reconfirmed her earlier impression of his and Saitama's relationship. "Yaoi," she muttered, before meeting the robot's golden irises with her own brown.

"What?"

"Nothing," her hostile mannerisms inadvertently returned.

"How can I help you?"

"Oh!" Alana jumped, remembering her original intentions for coming here. "I brought you your clothes back," she said, holding out the folded articles of clothing while trying to hide the blush that was forming on her cheeks. The cyborg took them with a nod of thanks but continued to stare at her since she hadn't said anything else while she stared absently at the ground. "And…" she trailed off shyly, unsure of how to go about asking for the next favour from a man who she made it very clear she didn't like.

"Oh, it's you!" Saitama exclaimed, having stood up at some point to see what was taking so long at the front door.

At the introduction of a new voice, Alana's head snapped up and she immediately recognized the plain-faced baldy from before. She smiled meekly in recognition before Saitama approached behind the cyborg, slapping Genos hard in the back, and exclaiming, "invite her in!" before turning and marching away.

It seemed to be a struggle for Genos to say, "please come in," after the contact the B-class hero's hand made with his body, but after debating the matter for a second, Alana decided to take her chances and enter inside the hero's domain once again.

Excusing herself, she stepped by Genos and moved into the main living area where Saitama had already resumed lounging, and kneeled at the small table. Genos went into another room with his returned clothing, presumably to put them away, but returned within a few seconds. He joined the two in the small room, which quickly became cramped, although it appeared as though only Alana shared this sentiment.

Before she lost her nerve, but mostly so she could leave here as soon as possible, she blurted out, "I'd like to know about what happened in the ravine last week!"

Her statement went largely ignored by the older man, but Genos assessed her carefully before responding.

"How much do you remember?" he asked.

"Very little," Alana admitted sheepishly. "I thought that perhaps over time my memories would come back, but they've failed to do so. It's like I was possessed or something," she said jokingly.

Genos' expression didn't change and Saitama snorted lightly.

The cyborg took a deep breath, which was ironic due to his lack of need for oxygen, before robotically summarizing that night's occurrence. He had been training nearby when he sensed a nearby human's increasing heartrate and, upon investigating, found Alana tumbling off the cliff. He glossed over the part where he saved her life, which she begrudgingly thanked him for, since this was one of the last things she remembered from that night.

He fluidly started recounting her subsequent transformation and their fight, ignoring the increasing size of Alana's eyes as the tale that didn't sound real continued. Once he finished, the two engaged in conversation sat in silence for several minutes while Alana tried to process the missing information that she had just received.

"I did all of that…" she whispered in disbelief, putting her head in her hands.

Oblivious to her inner battle, Genos continued, "Actually, I have reason to believe that it wasn't you, but a supernatural being which has taken control of your body. However, her destructive power is nearly immeasurable. If she were to somehow get loose, no doubt she would lead to massive carnage."

"So what am I supposed to do about that exactly?" Alana bit back sarcastically.

"For starters, since I believe this being resides in some part of your body, has it made any attempts to communicate with you?"

Looking away, Alana mumbled, "well… maybe once or twice… but it was always very cryptic."

"What did she say?"

The same words she had heard inside her head rang back through her memory: " _don't use my powers in the sun, it will kill us both."_

Meeting the cyborg's questioning gaze head-on, Alana straightened up and clearly stated, "That if I use my powers during the daytime, I will die."

Despite the courage she had drawn up to say those words out loud, this didn't seem to faze the robotic human at all. Rather, he put his chin in his hand thoughtfully.

"Hmmm, this does add up with my observations. During our battle, she often eluded to limited _time_ , so perhaps that is what she meant."

Alana's patience was wearing thin. "So what am I supposed to do to control it? You're a hero, can't you protect me?" she exclaimed, standing up.

Looking up at her curiously, Genos calmly stated, "I haven't been trained on how to protect civilians from themselves. Sensei?" he turned to Saitama for guidance, who shrugged in response.

"If you want to try to control this demon within you, your best option would be to let her out for short periods of time and try to regain control of your body then."

"But didn't you just say that was extremely dangerous?" she said frantically.

"Hmm, that's a good point." Genos said thoughtfully once again. "In that case, I will supervise."

The idea didn't sound too terrible to Alana's ears, but based on what Saitama had told her of her last encounter with Genos, it hadn't ended very well for the cyborg it seemed.

"Isn't there a risk of you getting hurt…or damaged, or something?" she asked hesitantly.

"Don't worry, I am highly specialized in combat techniques and evasive manoeuvres, if need be." The memory flickered in Genos' eyes of the demons' powerful offensive and neutralizing attacks and he stood. "But, just in case, I will equip my strongest mecha."

He walked into a separate room and Alana followed him with her eyes as he appeared to grab a large black briefcase out of the drawers before he brought it back out and set it on the table. She stared at it curiously as he went through great measures of opening the locks and barriers that sealed it tightly shut.

The lid popped open with a hiss and the distraught girl forgot about her problems momentarily as she looked at its contents: a pair of black mechanical arms. They were similar to the ones he currently…wore, but appeared to be much more sleek in design and style.

"This set was designed specifically to help me combat one of the strongest opponents I have ever encountered," Genos stated calmly.

"Who?" Alana asked, looking up at him.

"Him." A mechanical finger pointed to the man laying on his side several feet away, using one hand to scratch himself under his shirt while the other had a finger shoved up his nose.


End file.
